European NCAP Driver State Monitoring Protocols: Prevalence of Distraction in Naturalistic Driving

Area of Science:

• Road safety research
• Human-computer interaction
• Automotive engineering

Background:

• The 2023 introduction of Occupant Status Monitoring (OSM) by Euro NCAP will drive adoption of Driver State Monitoring (DSM).
• Euro NCAP mandates specific distraction behaviors for DSM systems to achieve maximum safety ratings.
• The prevalence of these distraction behaviors and associated driver alerts/interventions in real-world driving remains unquantified.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the prevalence of Euro NCAP-defined driver distraction behaviors during naturalistic driving.
• To analyze the frequency of driver alerting and intervention in response to these distraction events.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an instrumented vehicle equipped with automotive-grade DSM for 20 healthcare workers over two weeks.
• Collected 168.8 hours of continuous driver head, eye, and gaze tracking data during daily commutes.

Main Results:

• Single, prolonged distraction events were most common (.89 events/hour).
• Lizard glances (gaze tracking) were more frequent than owl glances (head tracking).
• Visual time-sharing events occurred at a rate of .21 events/hour, with alerting rates influenced by glance region thresholds.

Conclusions:

• Euro NCAP-defined driver distractions manifest naturally during driving.
• The high frequency of lizard glances indicates that less sophisticated DSM systems relying solely on head tracking will miss significant distraction events.
• Findings inform OEMs, DSM manufacturers, and regulators about expected alerting rates, influencing safety, user experience, and DSM acceptance.